Maybell man faces homicide charges

Haskins charged with eight counts after fatal accident

LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) The lone survivor of a wreck that killed eight University of Wyoming runners was charged Tuesday with vehicular homicide and being drunk at the time of the crash.

Clinton Haskins, a member of the university's rodeo team, was charged with eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide. The complaint also charged Haskins was drunk but provided no specifics.

The Albany County attorney's office and police refused to comment.

A memorial service was scheduled for next Tuesday at 4 p.m. at the UW Arena-Auditorium, university officials announced.

Haskins faces up to 20 years in prison on each count if convicted. Bond was set at $100,000. The aggravated nature of the charges is based on Haskins' alleged intoxication.

A court appearance was pending. Haskins, 21, of Maybell, Colo., was listed in fair condition at Ivinson Memorial Hospital. He suffered severe cuts, some internal damage and a concussion but no broken bones, his grandmother said in a telephone interview from her home in Maybell.

''He's very emotional. We're all very emotional,'' Sally Haskins said. Haskins' parents and teen-age sister are with him at the hospital, she said.

She also said her grandson was a careful driver with much experience traveling the rodeo circuit.

''He has driven miles and miles without an incident,'' she said. ''I've ridden with him.''

The crash occurred about 1:30 a.m. Sunday, when Haskins' pickup collided head-on with a sport utility vehicle carrying eight members of the cross-country team returning from a nonschool trip to Fort Collins, Colo.

Police say Haskins' southbound pickup appeared to have drifted into the oncoming lane on the two-lane highway.